India's Oscar hopes dashed, Rahman, Anwar return empty handed

Los Angeles, Feb 28 (PTI) Two time Oscar winning
Indian music maestro A R Rahman's hopes to repeat his 2009
double Oscar glory were dashed as he lost out in both the Best
Original Score and Best Song categories at the 83rd Academy
Awards here on Monday.
Another contender, NRI editor Tariq Anwar, too failed
to bag the Best Film Editing trophy for the British drama 'The
King's Speech', which went to Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter of
'The Social Network'.
Rahman, dressed in a black sherwani, performed his
nominated track 'If I Rise' from the the Danny Boyle film '127
Hours' with British popstar Florence Welch to much applause.
But the 45-year-old lost the Best Song trophy to
Randy Newman who won for his composition 'We Belong Together'
from 'Toy Story 3'.
The golden statuette for the Best Original Score went
to composer duo Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who won for
their soundtrack in the blockbuster 'The Social Network'.
Two years after he won his first Oscar with the
foot-tapping hit 'Jai Ho' from another of Boyle's film
'Slumdog Millionaire', Rahman drew a blank this time.
The musician walked the Oscars red carpet wearing a
charcoal grey tuxedo, accompanied by wife Saira, who wore an
off white and gold Indo-western ensemble, consisting of a
sherwani teamed with cigarette pants and a stole.
The 'Mozart of Madras' missed the golden trophy last
year too, after his song 'Na Na' (from 'Couple's Retreat')
failed to get a nomination despite being in the long
list for the 'Best Song' category.
Earlier this year, Rahman had lost out on a Golden
Globe for Best Score to Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, but won
a Critics Choice award for the "haunting tracks" and
"wonderful crescendos" of '127 Hours'.
Rahman had won a BAFTA nomination for the same, but
had lost the trophy to Alexandre Desplat, who won for his
score in 'The King's Speech'.
Rahman, who was honoured with a Padma Bhushan
last year, had also enjoyed a golden run at the 52nd Grammy
Awards, where he had again bagged two gramophones for his
music in 'Slumdog Millionaire'.
'127 Hours', starring James Franco as real-life
mountain climber Aron Ralston, who cut off his arm to escape
from beneath a boulder after being trapped for more than five
days, had won six nominations including Best Film, but
returned empty handed just like Rahman.
Earlier 'Peepli Live', India's official entry to the
Oscars had failed to make it to the final nine films which
were nominated in the Best Foreign Film category, which was
finally won by Danish film 'In a Better World'.
The glitzy ceremony, hosted by young stars Anne
Hathaway and James Franco, was high on musical performances,
including an auto-tuned video of film dialogues put to music
and a tribute sung by Celine Dion.
The Best Original Score category was presented by
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman who traced the history of music
in cinema with a brief video.
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross who won the award,
dedicated it to the film's director David Fincher and their
wives.
"When we finished work on the film, we were really
proud of it. And standing here in front of this audience, we
are really humbled. This award is for David Fincher who
believed in us," said Reznor, the frontman of the rock band
'Nine Inch Nails'.
Musician Randy Newman, who had been nominated for the
Best Song Oscar twenty times, expressed surprise at winning
his second golden statuette.